Nelson Mandela And The Media Analysis

Nelson Mandela, a man of great solitude, is one of the leading influences of modern day culture. After being freed from prison in 1990 from a reduced life sentence to just twenty years, his power escalated quickly to become the president just four years after his release. In 1993 he won the Nobel Peace Prize and is now most widely renowned for aiding in end the apartheid regime of South Africa (Noble Foundation). The image depicted of Mandela raising his fist at his inauguration of his presidency in 1994 is an image that is proclaimed to be one of the most notable in recent history.

In the translated Marxist article titled “Society of the Spectacle” by Greg Adargo, he states that in societies where contemporary media prevails, people’s opinions and speculations are formed on a daily basis. Every first hand experience has been objectified into his or her own representation. Images on a digital or concrete media platform are shared through a common stream in which one perceives it. People interact almost hourly every day regardless of if the setting is a billboard, TV or Internet media. The media is presented as a spectacle in which society sees as a part of itself, and as a tool for unification and serves as the center of all speculation. This subdivision is the common ground of which an ocean of premeditated notions achieves an official language of generalized separation. The collection of media is a social interaction of culture among mediated images. Media that creates a significant impact on one’s realization of interpretation among the common cultural media is more significant than other media.

When applying the same principles to this image of Mandela clenching his fist, it is a clear important part of contemporary medi...

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...not be considered a martyr because he didn’t give up his life for a single cause. Being a hero has one definition but being a true hero may be that one gives their life for the salvation of one cause. Nelson Mandela fought and won against the apartheid. Mandela gave his life to a single cause. Throughout his life he publically displayed the fight for equal right in effect to cause the prosperities of humanity.

His funeral was a celebration of his life and all that he accomplished to change in terms of what was wrong in his country and the world during his life. Instead of mourning, his country sang and danced in honor of all that he had changed. The world leaders attended his funeral because of his immense and lasting selfless acts to make the world a better place. Nelson Mandela dedicated his life for his country and will always be remembered as an icon of peace.